This application claims the priority of German Application No. 100 42 410.4, filed in Germany on Aug. 30, 2000, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein.
The invention relates to a frame structure of a body for a motor vehicle, particularly for a passenger car and a method of making same.
The frame structure is of the type having lateral support arrangements which extend, viewed in the longitudinal direction of the motor vehicle, between a forward body region and a rearward body region and arch over a vehicle occupant compartment above a belt line and bound a roof, each support arrangement comprising a tube support.
A known passenger car of the initially mentioned type is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,825,297 which has a vehicle body structure with lateral tube supports arching over a roof above a belt line in a longitudinal direction of the vehicle. The roof, which consists of light metal or plastic, is provided with deformations for the tube supports. The deformations surround the tube supports at a defined distance without being connected with the latter. Furthermore, each tube support extends between a forward and a rearward vehicle body region. This construction has the disadvantage that the deformations of the roof and the tube supports are inserted into the vehicle body structure independently of one another, whereby their stiffness is reduced which can impair particularly a roof structure with a relative large roof cutout for stationary and/or displaceable plane glass elements.
German Patent Document DE 30 46 056 C2 (corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 4,451,077) relates to plane components for vehicle bodies which are reinforced by means of tubes. In the case of an embodiment of this reference, an edge area of a planking is provided with a holder for a tube. The holder surrounds the tube in sections by means of retaining clips and is connected with the above-mentioned tube by welding, gluing or riveting. Since the holder is reinforced by means of the tube and is connected with the planking only in the edge area, this construction, if at all, is suitable only to a limited extent for highly stressed applications.
It is an object of the invention to design lateral supporting devices of a frame structure of a vehicle body, which arch over the vehicle occupant space above a belt line in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle in such a manner that, while the manufacturing is simple, they have a high stiffness in conjunction with the frame structure.
According to the invention, this object is achieved by connecting each of the tube supports with a first reinforcement in the forward body region and a second reinforcement in the rearward body region, and the tube support forms a stiff frame composite with the support arrangement by way of a holding device.
The principal advantages achieved by the features of the invention are that the tube support with the first reinforcement and the second reinforcement can be integrated effectively into the forward and the rearward vehicle body region and forms a stiff frame composite with the support arrangement. The frame composite provides the frame structure as a whole with a pronounced stability. In this case, it is possible to construct the cross-section comprising the support arrangement and the tube supports in a compact manner and with a low space requirement, whereby adjacent vehicle body elements, preferably relatively large-surface, for example, fixed and movable glass elements of a corresponding glass roof construction, can be designed in a targeted manner. The tube support and the support arrangement are components which can be produced and assembled by way of known technical methods. The latter is finally promoted in that the tube support, the first reinforcement, the second reinforcement and the holding device are constructed as a prefabricated module which can be assembled with the support arrangement in a simple manner.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.